A day in the life of James Macauley

The day of a Wesser fundraiser starts at a comparatively leisurely 10am, bright beams of morning light penetrate the blinds of the large window which lines one of the walls. The first thought that crosses my mind at the start of the day is one of curiosity, followed by an anticipation and excitement bubble that seems to burst only when hit by streams of water from our en-suite shower.

Next, comes breakfast, an essential part of the day; at the Manchester house we are blessed with a large living room and kitchen, so weaving ones way through your team-mates in order to reach the fridge and cupboards is made as pleasant as weaving can be. A few of the newer members are practicing presentations with each other on the sofas in the living room, the old hands bustle around making packed lunches, and one at a time the team leader beckons everyone over to the map on the wall in order to find an area to fundraise in for the day.

“That seems very much like a council area to me” remarks the team leader, a wry smile spreads over Tim’s face. Tim, another team member who joined at roughly the same time as myself, really likes council areas and council areas really like Tim. This is an interesting relationship that started in Langley, and which blossomed into being the second best day the Manchester Team ever had.

Its about twenty to eleven and we are in our car and on the way to the area we have selected today, the car is alive with banter, the team song, U2 – ‘With or Without You’ is playing in the background, a tune that brings sentiment to the veterans and a sense of belonging to the new guys and girls…I suppose. I don’t really know why we chose that particular song, but it has been the song since Arnie was here; Arnie was a previous team member but more importantly a really great guy.

Approaching the first house of the day is a perplexing feeling of excitement that doesn’t go away no matter how long you do this job, and I have done this job for almost 4 months now. It just so happened that the person who opened the door today had a heart attack just a few months previously, and explaining what St John are trying to do in the area is met with a rapturous reception. The first responder scheme is focused upon heart attack casualties, consequently saving lives in this area, and as a fundraiser you are helping to secure the future for people like this man, a member of the public who has a dire need for the services that St John Ambulance offer.

We meet up at around two o’clock; we are having fantastic weather today so the team sit together in the park, all of us eating our sandwiches, exchanging stories about our day so far. Vickie, my girlfriend, and also my team leader, has remorselessly emptied the area she was working in of all the spare change that might have been floating around for the next few years. The rest of the team have had a good morning although one of the new guys has had a few difficulties, the experienced team members run through with him his fundraising script, listening to what he is saying and offering some advice; he is working in an area close to mine, so I offer to go to a few doors with him, to which he gladly accepts. Despite the fact that we go to the door on our own, we do not work on our own, we are a team from morning to night, and help is always at hand whether it be a quick chat, a bit of re-training or simply just encouragement.

The working day finishes at around half past eight and we begin to head home. The local kids are playing football in the field opposite the house and offer us a game, to which we politely decline; we were amply embarrassed yesterday and don’t intend on ruining an otherwise great day by getting crushed by a bunch of eleven year olds (again).

Tim has a multitude of talents; aside from entertaining the old folk of Langley he also makes great chilli, if only he could play football…anyway, we forgave him his imperfections and more often than not allowed him to make dinner for the team.

The day is exhausting enough, no one said that fundraising was easy, and by the time we get cleared up after dinner we have just enough time for a quick drink, a bit of television and then it’s definitely time for bed. This we do for the most part on our own, the team ‘thing’ has its boundaries!

James Macauley, Manchester Team, Summer 2009